


Nascent Light

by ThatGreenBean



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 14:37:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16642088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatGreenBean/pseuds/ThatGreenBean
Summary: The first summer after defeating Hawkmoth and knowing their true identities, Marinette and Adrien shared it as a couple.It got cut short after an accident that left Marinette quadriplegic.The next months Adrien dedicates himself to Marinette, and she learns how to live again.





	Nascent Light

**Author's Note:**

> A fic commissioned by @wombatking (Tumblr)

The city of lights looked like a dream at night, especially when standing on the top of the Eiffel tower and looking down at your opponent, almost defeated after a long and arduous fight. The Parisian streets were empty and half destroyed after the mayor and police forces were told to evacuate the population, giving Chat noir and Ladybug a chance to not hold down and fight with all their strengths.

“We got him, Lady,” said the black cat next to her, panting as hard as she did, with injuries in his body just like hers after fighting for hours in the now isolated Paris.

“We have to be careful, Chat Noir. We cannot let him escape with the butterfly miraculous,” she cleaned the sweat from her forehead “If we get it, everything will be over once and for all”

She felt her heartbeat increasing as she started spinning her yo-yo and saw Chat noir getting ready to fight from the corner of her eye. Hawkmouth got ready too. Dark butterflies appeared out of nowhere, surrounding an injured Hawkmouth and elevating him to the skies. The three of them interchanged looks, and as if a countdown finished, Chat Noir and Ladybug jumped right at the middle of the black butterflies cloud, with their eyes fixed on the butterfly brooch on Hawkmoth's chest. As fast as a black cat, he made way for Ladybug by using his staff to destroy the rampage of butterflies tried to attack her and fell right into the city of light while trying to protect her. It was the chance that Chat Noir gave to her when Hawkmouth thought that he managed to defeat one of them that let her jump straight to him and snatch the brooch from his neck. She did it in a swift move and he didn’t notice it. Before he could say a thing or even try to get his brooch back, all the butterflies that kept the both of them on the sky disappeared in a flash of light. Ladybug couldn’t help the man that fell to the ground, he disappeared in the bright white light when Chat Noir jumped with his last strengths and caught her in the air, before falling again to the ground. Chat noir cushioned her fall with his body and couldn’t avoid screaming when his back hit the ground.

“Chat! Are you alright?!”

Ladybug quickly detached herself from him and sat next to Chat Noir, holding his head in her hands and waited until he made a move. His lids slowly opened, showing his green eyes.

“My lady, if it’s to save you from pain, this is nothing”

She couldn’t help crying, seeing that he was the same as always. Ladybug left him on the ground and laid next to him, also tired and injured, unable to move. She lifted her fist and opened it so both of them could see the small brooch in her hand.

“I couldn’t see who Hawkmouth really was”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Lady. We won”

Chat Noir grabbed her free hand and she accepted interlacing her fingers with him. He lost himself in her blue eyes and her smile, giving him enough amount of courage to say what he had been wanting to say for so long. The moment he took a breath and opened his mouth the beeping sound of his and Lady’s miraculous interrupted him.

“We’re… almost out of time, Chat” she tried to sit up but failed, laying on the ground again “We should-”

“No, Lady. It doesn’t matter anymore. Let me see who you really are”

Chat Noir tightened his grip on Ladybug’s hand, not giving her any chance to escape. She also gave up, it was just how he just said, Hawkmouth was finally defeated, they could see who was behind the mask. The beeping stopped and a green light surrounded Chat Noir’s body just as a red light did the same with her. Of all the people in the world, Chat Noir didn’t imagine that Marinette was behind the Ladybug’s outfit; neither did she thought that Adrien was that sly cat. Confused looks were interchanged, tired but surprised; both Kwamis laid between them, exhausted from the fight.  The silence was tranquilizing, the more they looked at each other, the more they started noticing how silly they were to not see that the person they loved the most was always so close.

“Hey, Adrien” Plagg’s weak voice interrupted the moment “Do you have some Camembert?... I really deserve it”

Adrien started laughing and slicked his hair back with his free hand “I’ll get you the best and smelliest cheese when we get back home”

Tikki was even more tired than Plagg, she just snuggled against the other Kwami and smiled when Marinette caressed her with her finger.

“I’ll get you a ton of cookies too, Tikki”

As if it was planned, Marinette and Adrien interchanged looks again. This time, with big smiles on their faces.

“Thanks for everything, Marinette” Adrien squeezed her small hand “I had a lot of fun all this time together”

Adrien couldn’t help laughing, thinking that he was, in fact, the biggest idiot and Marinette followed him with her own laughs as she returned the squeeze. 

“You’re welcome”

They stayed like that for a while, the dark clouds that covered the skies dissipated, showing the starry sky. Marinette thought about calling Queen Bee, Rena Rouge, and Carapace to tell them that everything was over and the evacuation of Paris could stop already, but she didn’t want to stop hearing Adrien’s laughter or holding his hand. This is what the both of them always wanted, and they finally had it. 

  
  


To be with their loved ones in an almost Akuma-free Paris was something Marinette dreamt of, and to be with Adrien, holding his hand and hearing him saying that he loved her everytime he could, it was more than what she could have ever ask for. Summer had started and Marinette knew that would be the best summer ever with the movie double dates with Alya and Nino and the walks beside the river with Adrien; her creativity for new designs grew every single day, and she didn’t know if what caused it was because she was in love, but Marinette knew there was something new in her life that made her extremely happy and confident in herself, this time was Marinette the one that felt confident, not only Ladybug. Adrien wasn’t that different, he had been happier than ever after his mother disappeared, there was a change in his father attitude too, and suddenly going back home stopped being as bad as it used to be. The two teenagers were superheroes for Paris, but most importantly, they ended up saving each other.

It had been Adrien’s idea to go to the riverside with Marinette, Alya and Nino that to enjoy their Saturday. Nathalie and his bodyguard took them to the shore and left them there for the whole day. Between playing and enjoying their day, they decided to play frisbee before lunch.

“Marinette and I will kick your butts so hard! You two will have to take on the night inspection all by yourselves!” said Alya, while hugging Marinette with one arm. “With Chloe!”

“What? With this heat?!” Adrien opened his mouth and frowned “We gotta win, Nino!”

“You said it!” answered Nino.

They started throwing the red frisbee at each other. Alya had an amazing control as she jumped and caught the frisbee then threw it at the boys before she even touched the ground. Nino was as dynamic as her, and the fierce battle was between them. Adrien had his sight on winning because summer nights in Paris were awful, more when you had to do superhero work while trying to capture the rest of Akumas and hear Queen Bee’s babbling, but he ended up throwing the frisbee at Marinette too softly since in his mind he really didn’t want to make her go through that. He threw the red frisbee so softly that a breeze made it change the direction and ended up falling in the river.

“Adrien, you gotta be rougher!”

He started apologizing to Alya, Marinette laughed and went to the dock to swim and grab the frisbee before it drifted too far away. She swam with her soft pink top and beige shorts that covered her bathing suit, only taking off her sandals. The river was deep so she dived without seeing what was under the water. When she submerged she felt her head hitting something, a crack in her neck, and her whole body going numb. Marinette tried to swim to the surface, but her arms or legs wouldn’t move. She couldn’t feel anything. No one was seeing Marinette, so they didn’t notice that she had disappeared from sight and that she was about to drown. Only Adrien noticed when he turned his face to the river and saw that Marinette was nowhere to be seen. Stinging pain appeared in his chest, something terrible had happened. He threw his phone at Nino, telling him to call Nathalie or an ambulance immediately and ran to the dock before jumping into the water. Adrien swam around and Alya followed him, calling her friend’s name. A log drifted around him on the surface of the water and he found that pink top Marianette was wearing, she was floating face-down, not making any type of movement. He quickly took her to the shore and thankfully she started coughing all the water that almost got in her lungs, and Adrien tried to stop the blood falling from her forehead with a towel.

“Marinette, what happened?!” said Alya in the verge of tears.

“I already called an ambulance! They will be here in no time!” screamed Nino, running towards the street to wait for the help.

Adrien was speechless, he tried to hold his girlfriend in his arms, to make her react, but she could only repeatedly blink as she had a hard time pronouncing words. The blood from her face was completely cleaned and he kept the now red towel on the injury in Marinette’s forehead. Adrien held her neck and noticed something strange in the back of it, but before he could say something the sound of sirens appeared. The ambulance was being followed by the silver car from where Nathalie and Adrien’s bodyguard jumped out in a nervous state. They went straight to the group of teenagers and when the paramedics took Marinette vital signs and put her on the stretcher, Adrien couldn’t avoid shedding some tears when he stopped holding her hand. Without paying attention to anyone else that wasn’t Marinette, he entered the ambulance and held her hand again. Adrien held her hand the whole traject to the hospital and couldn’t understand the questions the paramedics kept asking him but he tried to explain what happened; all his concentration went to trying to say soothing words to Marinette and to squeeze her now bland hand. It was like she was dead, and the idea of it made Adrien cry even more.

When they reached the hospital Marinette’s parents were already there, Alya had called them. Adrien felt an increase of the pain in his chest but tried to keep calm and explain to them what had happened. Her mother started crying before her father and she went to the emergency room with Marinette,  Adrien was left alone once again. A hand touched his shoulder, he thought Nino was there to console him but when he turned around and saw his father, the chest pain overflowed in his tears, Gabriel hugged him without saying a word.

“It was my fault!” he screamed, squeezing between his hands his father’s white jacket “I threw the frisbee to softly and she went to look for it!”

“Calm down, Adrien” Gabriel’s always stern and emotionless tone disappeared, now his voice sounded as soft like how Adrien remembered it from when he was a little kid “It wasn’t your fault. She will be alright”

Without saying anything else, Gabriel took his son to the waiting room, he left him with his friends and went to discuss something with his assistant. The three of them didn’t mutter a word, only when Tiki appeared with Plagg from the inside of Alya’s purse was that the silence ended.

“How’s she?” said Plagg. Tikki looked sick and laid on Alya’s lap.

“She’s getting examined right now,” said Nino.

Adrien kept quiet, with his eyes on the ground and his back laid on the chair. Plagg floated straight to his face and hugged his cheek, he didn’t make any comment, or asked for cheese, even if he was famished after all that had happened and he missed lunchtime. Plagg wanted to comfort Adrien. The doctor appeared in the hallway, being followed by Marinette’s parents, the both of them with a grim look on their faces and when Adrien saw them, he jumped straight to them, but his father stopped him. Marinette’s dad was the one that approached the group to explain the situation.

“How’s Marinette?” said Alya, cleaning the rests of tears from her glasses.

“... The x-rays showed that when she hit her head with the log she… broke her neck” he tried to be strong, even if the three teenagers in front of him looked at the verge of tears “It was her spinal cord. My little girl probably… won’t walk anymore”

It was like if someone pushed you by the chest into the abyss. Alya falling to the ground, unable to breathe with Nino sitting next to her and holding her when she started crying ended up in muffled background sound inside of Adrien’s head. Marinette wasn’t dead, he could stop worrying about that, but she would never be the same; Marinette could look the same way but she won’t be able to do everything that made her happy. She would suffer, probably get depressed and think life isn’t worth suffering like this. Adrien imagined all the pain the girl he loved the most would have to go through and felt his soul leaving his body.  Without the need of asking for it, Gabriel held him before he could faint, hugged his speechless son, even harder than the first time while repeatedly chanting  _ “I’m here. Everything will be fine” _ in his ear. Adrien felt everything tumbling down, and his newfound happiness being ripped in half.   
  


When Marinette woke up, the only thing she could see was the white ceiling, her mother’s voice soothing her with a lullaby was the first thing she heard, a nurse and a doctor appeared from the door but she couldn’t turn her head around. She couldn’t feel anything, not even the beating of her heart. The doctor explained slowly to her what had happened, her actual state and the low probabilities of getting better. Marinette would probably never walk again. The moment her mother started crying at her side she understood this was not a dream. By making a great effort, Marinette spoke in a low and raspy voice.

“I’ll be okay. I won’t give up”

After the doctor and the nurse left the room her dad appeared, and his goofy smile made her feel a little bit better. After talking with her parents for a while, a knock on the door caught their attention, and Marinette was the one to say “come in”. The door opened to a big bouquet of pink and green roses, Adrien’s smiley face appeared behind of it with Alya and Nino accompanying him. Marinette’s parents left the room to give them privacy.

“I hope you like them. The green ones mean hope, you look cute today” said her boyfriend, loving the way her eyes light up when she saw her.

And she did look cute. Her hair wasn’t tied in her usual ponytails, but falling freely on the white pillow and framing her pale face. Adrien thought that he would found her looking sad or sickly, and his shoulders relaxed when he saw her giggle. He took a pink rose and put it on her ear, adorning that round and pale face with a blush before sitting on the chair next to her bed after giving the flowers to Nino so he could fix them in the flower base.

“There’s someone that really wants to see you” Adrien opened his black jacket and Plagg and Tikki flew out of there.

The first thing Marinette’s Kwami did was to lay on her pillow and cuddle against her cheek, feeling Marinette’s warm to reassure herself she was there, that she was alive. Plagg sat next to Tikki in complete silence, waiting for her to feel better.

“I can feel that. Thanks, Tikki,” Marinette smiled at the touch.

Alya, who had been quiet while watching the scene, finally approached her best friend and touched her cheek. Marinette smiled at her, in complete calm and Alya didn’t need anything else to know that Marinette would be ok. At that moment, they were there for her. 

The days after the accident were slow, Marinette didn’t want to give up and did all her exercises with the physiotherapist and tried to regain mobility in her body. The road to recovery was hard, painful and emotionally tiring at moments, but she worked hard to get her life back. Alya and Nino started working half-time at the bakery so Marinette’s parents could accompany her at the hospital; her father was as giggly as always, consenting her with all kind of cookies and sweets he specially baked for her, and her mother kept singing lullabies for her, the ones she used to sing her when she still was a baby. Marinette classmates appeared at the hospital after hearing the news, they all wished her good luck and surrounded her bed with all kinds of flowers and gifts, even Chloe, who was reluctant to go and visit her, gave her some roses, yellow ones that meant optimism—according to Sabrina— and left the hospital after Marinette thanked her. The one that always appeared at 10:00 AM and stayed all day until the night fell on the city was Adrien. From Monday to Sunday he accompanied Marinette, the nights her parents had to go out to attend issues at the bakery, he stayed at the hospital and slept on the couch or a chair next to her bed while holding her hand. She forgot for moments that she was quadriplegic, there was no time to feel bad about her situation when she had so much love from everyone around her, and even if Adrien looked sad or in pain at moments when he saw her body, she would make an effort to tighten up her hand. It never worked, her hand never moved, but Adrien could notice it and he would interlace his fingers with hers and leave a kiss on the tip of her nose.

 

In the end, the world came crashing down for Marinette when the doctors told her that they did all they could, but there was no reaction from her body. The physical therapy didn’t make any progress and her situation was probably permanent. Permanent, a word that echoed in her ears and caused her a big headache. She tried her best to not cry in front of her parents, but there was nothing that couldn’t stop the way her shocked expression turned into one of pain when the tears rolled down her face. Her parents hugged her and tried to calm her but there was nothing that could console Marinette at that moment.

“But I worked hard!” she screamed, between tears “I don’t want to be a bother for you two!”

“You’re not Marinette! We will always be with you!” said her mother, not crying and cleaning the tears off her face.

“We will work it out. I promise!” continued her dad, feeling the pain of not being able to help his daughter.

“But I…! I promised I’ll be able to walk again!” she started calming down since a nurse put some sedatives on her IV, “I told Alya… Nino… I told Adrien I would walk again”

Her eyes closed and she fell asleep on her mother's arms, who laid her slowly at the pillow and spoke with the doctor to let her rest. Outside of the room, Adrien was laying against the wall, having heard everything that happened in the room; the worst thing that he thought it could happen, happened. He swallowed his own tears, erased the idea of running away and entered the room to give company to Marinette’s parents and tell them he would support their family in any way they needed it. Marinette slept all morning and woke up for lunchtime, she thought everything was a dream, but that dreaded white ceiling she had been seeing for weeks every time she woke up appeared again. Beside her bed, Adrien was getting her food ready on the overbed table and touched a button to fix the bed and feed her.

“…I’m sorry” she stopped Adrien before he could give her some soup.

“What for?” he started cooling down the steaming chicken soup.

“I won’t be able to walk. The doctors told me there was no improvement after the therapy” 

“Your parents told me about it. It’s really bad but it’s not the end Marinette” he made an effort to smile “Let’s just give you some food and then we can talk about the future”

“What future?!” 

It surprised Adrien all the anger in her voice. Tikki and Plagg, who had been resting on the frame of the room’s window, woke up to the loud scream.

“Marinette, you have a future. I promise you” he said, trying to comfort her.

“I don’t! I cannot move! I’ll never design again, I’ll never help at the bakery or dance with you. I can’t even be Ladybug again!” she couldn’t feel anything from below her neck, but she knew that the pain in her chest was real “... I'm being a bother to everyone again. I should have just died—”

A loud thud startled Marinette, she looked at Adrien next to her, with his eyes full of anger. With his palm, he had hit the table with the food and was fighting against the tears that accumulated in his eyes. Adrien didn’t allow himself to cry in front of her. 

“Don’t say that ever again. I beg you” his voice was so calm that inspired some fear, “You think that maybe… your life is over, but it’s not”

“...How could it not be?”

“We will have to work on plan B then” Adrien moved the overbed table to a side and sat on the little space on the bed.

“Plan B?”

“Plan B is to get you a nice chair and help you have a normal life” he pulled his phone out of his pants and showed Marinette a video “Since you can’t move your hands, you can use a type of chair that has this Sip n’ puff mechanism to freely move around” 

“...I won’t be on a bed forever?” Marinette’s eyes brightened up while looking at the video of a little kid following a dog while puffing on a tube to move his wheelchair.

“Your parents are out getting one for you”

Adrien took the spoon again but Marinette didn't accept the food, the shine in her eyes disappeared once more. Tikki tried to approach them but Plagg stopped her.

“Why are you still with me?”

“That’s simple” answered Adrien “Because I love you”

Marinette tried to say something, her low self-esteem tried to talk and say that he shouldn’t bother with her anymore, but Adrien kissed her before she could say a word. The tingling feeling on her lips every time he kissed her was still there, she felt the heat on her face and the way Adrien put his hand behind the back of her head and tangled his fingers in her loose hair. Adrien slowly separated from her and Marinette forgot what she wanted to say.

“If you can still feel that then I’ll never leave you. Even after you cannot feel anything anymore, I won’t leave you”

A smile so warm like the sun formed on Adrien’s face as Marinette started tearing up and he cleaned his tears with his thumbs. Marinette accepted the food and Adrien changed the subject. Her parents came back with news that surprised Marinette. They had sold their home and bakery, a plan they had for a while, but the necessity of a bigger house in where Marinette could move freely was what pushed them to do it. She had a lot of questions and thought that his father quit being a baker because of her condition, but when she knew that they would get a bigger home to open a bigger bakery too she fell as she could breathe again. The days passed and she got her chair, the nurses and therapist worked with her so she could get used to it and be able to move freely. In a matter of two weeks, Marinette was ready to get out of the hospital.

“Those are nice wheels!” Nino said and put a bouquet of fresh lilies on Marinette’s lap “ This is great! when you feel better we should go to the movies or something!”

“I would love that Nino” she didn’t look as excited as she used to, but she was happy.

“We would love to accompany you to your new house but..” Alya got interrupted by the television announcing a new Akuma attacking Paris “We have to kick some ass”

“Don’t worry, but I would love if you came to the bakery inauguration party”

“We wouldn’t miss that for anything!” 

Alya took Nino by the wrist and ran out of the hospital room. Marinette looked at Adrien, still standing next to her.

“Aren’t you going, Chat?”

“Oh no, that’s a weak Akuma and I have more important business in here, with you”

Without making an effort, he managed to make Marinette blush and stutter with those smooth words and cute smile of his. Her parents came for her and Adrien instinctively went to grab the wheelchair handles, like when he used to take Marinette out to get some fresh air. The chair moved a little and Adrien almost fell when he missed the handles.

“I can do it by myself”  a playful smile appeared in her face when she stopped holding the thin, black tube on her lips “Can you take the flowers, please?”

He took the flowers on her lap, Marinette puffed a little and she was already getting out of the hospital room. Adrien followed her with a slow pace that matched the one from the chair since Marinette was still being careful. She was holding the black tube with her lips and looked comfortable while moving around with her chair, Adrien almost stumbled with a trash can while being so enthralled in looking at Marinette’s. The difficult part was when they got outside the hospital. 

There was a special taxi for handicapped people waiting outside, while her parents fixed the luggage in the back of the van Adrien opened the door of the back seat and a ramp appeared to help her get into the car. Adrien ran to the back of her chair and pushed in, knowing that it would still be hard for her to go up and because he wanted to take care of her the most he could. The ramp got into the car again, Adrien opened the other door and sat on the seat next to her and instinctively touched Marinette’s hand.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, nothing. I just feel at peace when I touch your hand” he looked how he played with her fingers and the beautiful soft blue dress she was wearing “You look adorable today”   


“You say that every day” she tried to not show how flustered she was.

“Because you are”

Marinette’s parents could only smile at them, feeling some relief while seeing the way Adrien took care of their daughter. During the trip to the new home Marinette didn’t know yet, Adrien showed her some things on her phone, updated her on what had been happening in Paris while she was on the hospital. Marinette got distracted when she saw they were leaving the urban zone of Paris and went a little more to the rural side. It wasn’t that far from the town, but it was in a zone with big houses and a lot of woods. The taxi stopped on a paved entrance to a big house of three floors with cream-colored walls and a colonial style.

“Are we going to live in here?” she said, astonished of the beauty of the house that looked like a small country house for rich people “How could you pay something like this?”   


“Sweetheart, you know we had been saving up for some years now,” mister Dupain couldn’t avoid putting his big arm around Adrien’s arms and pull him in a hug “And we had a good investment at the end thanks to Gabriel Agreste”   


“What? I don’t understand?”

“My father wanted a new boutique and ended up buying your house” he felt ashamed while he spoke “He only bought it because it had a great location, that was all”

“Your father did that?” Marinette puffed on the tube a little and approached Adrien “Please tell him that I’m really grateful to his kindness”   


“He knows it, he also invited you to a dinner at my house tomorrow. Alya and Nino will go and it’ll be to celebrate you getting out of the hospital”   


Now Marinette was even more excited. Gabriel Agreste, a fashion Icon and the man she would love to have as a teacher wanted to throw a party for her. If she could she would jump out of the chair, and even if she couldn’t, she ignored it to rejoice on the great news. The new house was beautiful and more modern than what it looked on the outside, it had big corridors so her chair could transit easily and the living room had been specially fixed so she wouldn’t hit any of the furniture, an elevator connected the three floors and all the doors in the house could be open by only pushing them. Adrien took her to her room and when the elevator door opened she was marveled while seeing an exact replica of her bedroom; Tikki and Plagg got out of Adrien's shirt and started looking around the room that was bigger and with the bed on the same floor. A big balcony showed the rural side of Paris and the summer breeze that got into the room waved some of the hairs of her bangs.

“You like it? Alya worked hard on making it something you would feel comfortable in” said Adrien

“I love it. I have to thank her for everything she has done”

“She also did this on your computer”  Tikki approached the table with the PC and moved the mouse so Marinette could see the screensaver that was a collage of a bunch of pictures of Adrien and her and some with Nino and Alya too 

“I helped too… but the one with only pictures of me was… flattering”   


Marinette gasped and blushed at Adrien’s comment. They had been dating for a while but her entire collection of Adrien pictures was still kind of a secret. The uncomfortable silence perdured a while until Adrien remembered something and went to Marinette’s closet. He pulled a hanger with a white cover that had the sign of the Agreste fashion house in gold.

“My father sent this for you, so you can use it tomorrow” when Adrien opened the cover, he looked the other way because he really wanted to see the dress on Marinette first.

“Gabriel Agreste sent me a dress?” she talked as she couldn’t believe it.

“Not only that, he designed it for you!” Plagg sat on Marinette’s legs and laughed at his friend who had his eyes tightly closed.

“This... I’m dreaming right?”

“Not at all! He made a pretty dress for a pretty Lady!” he enjoyed how happy Marinette looked after the compliment “But let Adrien put the dress back on the closet so he stops making that funny face”

After hearing Marinette giggling, Adrien put the dress out of his sight.

“Everything has been wonderful. Thank you so much, Adrien”

Adrien smiled at her once again before his phone started ringing in the pocket of his pants, he excused himself and answered the call on the balcony, leaving Marinette to explore her room. The shades of pink instead of that dreaded white walls made her relax, she looked at all the stuff in her room with melancholy thinking that there was almost nothing she could do to go back to her old hobbies. What made her feel useless was when she went to the mannequin at the corner of her room and thought that never again she could put any new creation on it. Her sigh was louder this time and Tikki noticed it.

“What’s wrong?

“I just… had all my dreams crushed”

It was obvious her smile wasn’t the same, she could move freely with her chair and on her new home, her parents would try to get her a car that would take her to the city when she needed it and Marinette would be able to have some kind of independent life when she gets used to the whole situation. But she would never be able to sew again.

“If we found a way for you to move without the help of anyone, then we will find a way for you to design again” 

What Tikki said lift her up even if it was just some words of courage; in the balcony, Adrien heard the whole conversation and made another call to prepare a surprise for Marinette. In the end, he had to go to a Photoshoot and left Marinette with her parents for the rest of the day. Getting dressed, bathed and fed was what she had to get used to now and she found some calm when she started reading a fashion design book on her tablet and could easily pass the pages by moving her eyes. Maybe there was really a way for her to be able to go back to what she really loved.

 

The next day Alya visited her and spent the day with her, Marinette showed her around the new house and they enjoyed the afternoon at the backyard. The whole time Alya made her biggest effort to cheer up her friend, she even helped her mother to change her and fix her hair. When the two of them got alone, their Kwamis appeared together.

“You two look beautiful!” said Trixx, jumping into Alya’s black purse that combined with her short emerald dress with long sleeves “Especially you, Marinette”

“You think so?” 

She looked at her reflection and couldn´t avoid feeling amazed at all the details of that cream-colored silk dress with golden decorations at the waist; some locks of hair fell gracefully from the bun at the side of her head, Tikki flew towards her and put the golden leaves ornament on it before hiding in the folds of the skirt.

“Like a goddess, but we will be late so better let Adrien and Nino be the ones that spit compliments at us,” said Alya before putting a little more of pink lipgloss on Marinette’s lips.

Both girls laughed and Alya pushed the chair so Marinette could relax. The taxi waited for them and Marinette’s mother fixed a lock of hair behind her ear before saying goodbye. At Adrien’s house, Nino was already there, uncomfortable on a red suit jacket and without his cap, feeling out of place.

“Dude, I know it’s because we will eat with your dad, but I feel weird”

“You look great” Adrien giggled at the way his friend squirmed and felt uncomfortable in his own skin “Besides, Alya would get mad if you didn’t use at least a jacket”

“True…”

The bell rang and Nathalie opened the door, Adrien looked at his reflection on a mirror and saw that everything in his black cocktail suit was neat and his hair perfectly fixed before they both went to the living room. Of all of the things he wanted to tell his dad, a big “Thank you” was put on the list, for making Marinette a dress so splendorous that highlighted her beauty the way it did. It was a good idea to avoid seeing the dress before Marinette had it on; she looked like an angel and Nino had to give him a pat on the back so he could react.

“I… your dress… beautiful”

Nino and Wayzz, who was hiding inside his jacket, snorted a laugh. Adrien bit his lip because even Nathalie smiled at his stuttering and poor grammatical skills caused by Marinette’s beauty.

“You look really good too, Adrien”

Marinette really knew how to calm him with only flashing him one of her sweet smiles. At that moment she forgot about anything that wasn’t the shine on her boyfriend's eyes and the love he transmitted through them.  Nathalie took them to the main dining room were Gabriel was waiting for them as he finished checking some documents in his tablet.

“I’m glad to see all of you” he gave the tablet to Nathalie and the food started being served when they all sat at the table “And I’m also pleased to see you’re using the dress, Marinette”

“It’s so beautiful, Thank you for making it”

Adrien relaxed when he saw his father smile a little. The first plate was mushroom soup and Marinette felt curiosity at the fact that Adrien didn’t have any plate in front of him, instead, he had grabbed the spoon on Marinette’s soup and tried to feed her.

“Wait, what about you? Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I already ate so I could help you”

A blush appeared on Marinette’s cheeks when she looked at how everyone in the room, including Gabriel, looked at them. Adrien used to feed her at the hospital when her parents weren’t around but it was always in the privacy of her room, now to have people watching them was a little embarrassing, but Adrien didn’t care and kept offering some food until she slowly opened her mouth.

The rest of the dinner was completely enjoyable, any preoccupations that either Marinette or Adrien had disappeared and they enjoyed being with their friends, even Adrien’s dad looked relaxed and participated in the conversations from time to time. When the dinner was over, Gabriel bid them goodnight before retiring to his room and they all went to Adrien’s room to chat and enjoy the rest of the evening.

“You were right dude, your dad is different now!” said Nino as he threw a joypad to Adrien and sat on the sofa.

“Yes, I was surprised that he wanted to have dinner with all of us”   


“And he smiled too. In multiple occasions,” remarked Alya, who was sitting on the sofa and with Marinette at her side.

Adrien felt good, hearing his friends talk about his father in that way and to see him being more father-like, just like he used to be right before his mother disappeared. A call to his bedroom phone startled him and he answered, it was his father who wanted to talk with him before going to sleep. Adrien excused himself and on his way out he left a kiss on Marinette’s forehead and she wished she could lean in more on the kiss. Gabriel was waiting for him on his office and the mood wasn’t as tense as he thought it would.

“It’s something the matter?”

“Adrien, do you love that girl?”

A really unexpected question that caught him off guard. Adrien was happy to see his father completely supportive of him and Marinette, from before and after the accident. His brain started overthinking and he was afraid to answer.

“Of course I do. Why are you asking this?”   


“I just want to give you some advice. Marinette is a sweet girl and what happened to her is a shame, but you should—”

“If you’re going to advise me to break up with her then I won’t be taking it”

Adrien’s shoulders tensed at every single word his father said since he had been fearing this conversation ever since Marinette was in the hospital. The nights he spends on his room only thinking about how to make her happy after the accident, the absent-mindedness during breakfast and his overall mood probably alarmed his father, but in no way, he would stop loving Marinette just because she was quadriplegic now. The single thought of his father thinking he should forget her made him nauseous and he felt disappointed after thinking he had changed.

“It’s rude to interrupt people, Adrien” said Gabriel as he walked towards his son, who had anger written on his face “I wanted to tell you that no matter what other people say or how hard things get you to have to be there for her, but you also have to think about yourself”

“What?”

“Tonight you showed me at dinner that you wouldn’t think twice before dedicating yourself to her, but you told a lie, you didn’t eat”

Adrien gulped down when his father put his hands on his shoulders. A nervous giggle escaped from his lips.

“Yeah, I kind of forgot”

“Son, If you don’t take care of yourself, how do you expect to take care of your girlfriend?”  

“I didn’t want to make her worry”

“She has gone through a lot, that’s for sure, but she needs you to be fine. I also need that”

The hugs between them were weird, but when Gabriel hugged him Adrien didn’t stop himself from returning the embrace. 

“I asked the chef to prepare you something, go and eat then you can go back with your friends”

Their embrace dured a little longer until Gabriel separated himself from his son before letting him go. When he was alone on his office, his eyes went straight to the paint of his wife, thinking about how good their son was.

Adrien ate his sandwich quickly and when he returned to his room, he heard laughter coming out of it. Plagg had stayed there and it looked like he was making a stand-up comedy show for their guest that consisted on cheese puns.

“Alright here’s another one!  What did the grilled cheese sandwich say to their date?” he slowly approached Tikki, who was completely uninterested on the jokes “You make me melt.”

Trixx laughed out of pity and Wayzz and Nino actually liked the joke, but Tikki rolled her eyes for the 10th time on the evening. Marinette couldn’t avoid laughing for afar, seeing from where did Chat Noir lame jokes came from.

“Are you guys having so much fun without me?”

“We were waiting for you! You went away for quite a while” mentioned Alya. “We almost gave Marinette her surprise without you” 

“What? A surprise for me?”

Marinette had been watching the streets through the window, she had stopped participating in the conversation until her name made way to her ears and she approached Adrien’s computer, curious in the way Alya and Nino smiled at each other while following Adrien.

“Marinette, you know there’s a design competition for the Paris fashion week right?” said Adrien.

“It had been your dream ever since you were a little girl and now that you have the age you can participate!” continued Alya

“.... Guys, I know you want me to feel normal but-”

“You will participate, even if you cannot draw or sew like you used to”  Adrien walked to the back of her chair after interrupting her, pushed it towards the desk and put a microphone in front of her “With this you will be able to”

In the screen in front of her, there was a black canvas that looked like any other drawing program in the market, she couldn’t comprehend what were they thinking until Adrien spoke to the microphone and the screen showed a little pencil to draw. It was hard but Adrien had been practicing how to use it so he could be of help for Marinette by being her support in the first steps of this journey of being able to draw again. With all his concentration put on the screen, he managed to draw a flower that looked like something a kid from preschool would draw and a smiley face. Alya couldn’t avoid teasing him and making him get embarrassed.

“Well I’m not an artist, but I understand how the software works and can’t wait to see Marinette using it!”

A sobbing sound caught everyone’s attention and Tikki went flying with a napkin to clean Marinette’s tears. The past month had been a living hell and she now saw a light brighter than any other opportunity she ever had since the accident. In an effort, she looked up even if she couldn’t move her neck a lot and smiled between tears, saying a half-choked “thank you” to his friends who couldn’t avoid hugging her and cry a little. In weeks, this had been the first joyful smile Adrien had seen on her face.

 

Life slowly stopped looking grey. Between having to get used to her new lifestyle, her sip-and-puff wheelchair and working with Alya, Nino and Adrien on the design for the competition, Marinette stopped thinking about what she couldn't do anymore and filled her mind with what she could do. Every day was busy now that she could move in her chair with more confidence and she even started considering going back to school and avoid homeschooling since that would make her more depressed; when Adrien noticed this, he invited her to get some ice cream. The two of them went to the part of the city closest to her home, Adrien walked together and made Marinette wait at a park close to the ice cream shop. Adrien managed to feed her a strawberry soft serve while he ate his pistachio cone.

“I never knew of this shop! The ice cream is amazing! Almost as good as André’s” said Marinette when Adrien separated the ice cream from her mouth before giving his own cone to Plagg to hold it while he cleaned her lips with a napkin.

“That’s the good thing about moving: Getting to explore a whole new zone” 

Adrien managed to take back his ice cream before Plag tried to eat it and finished it so he could concentrate on Marinette. The last weeks had been full of fun in Marinette’s house and their sewing boot camp, he was glad that she accepted to go out with him on this casual date so she would de-stress since they had to send the finished dress on Saturday. When they got back at her home, Adrien had to leave immediately when they saw them on the news that an Akuma had appeared in the center of the city, Chat Noir ruffled her hair before bowing and jumping out of the balcony of her room. 

Marinette's eyes were lost while looking at the sun hiding behind a mountain and Tikki noticed some melancholy in them. She kissed her forehead to get her attention and laid on her legs.

“Do you want to talk?”

It was the moment she had been waiting for weeks.

“Tikki, have you ever thought of getting another Ladybug?”

“Not really, I’m happy that Master Fu choose you,” she said, flying and laying on top of her hand.

“Me too, I had fun being Ladybug, but isn’t it a waste to give a miraculous to someone that cannot use it?”

“It really depends: You’re using it to de-akumatize the butterflies that Chat Noir brings to you. That’s an important part of being Ladybug”

“But I can’t help on the battlefield,” said Marinette, with a louder tone in her voice “I… want to be useful”

“Marinette, you are! We still need you. Chat Noir, Queen Bee, Rena Rouge, Carapace and I still think that Ladybug is the biggest hero from Paris”

“...Even if she’s bound to a chair and feels useless?” continued Marinette, starting to tear up.

“That’s the thing,” Tikki flew towards her user’s face and cleaned the forming tears from her eyes “You are useful, and you will never stop being it. Even if your body stops working like it used to, look at what you’ve done” 

When she finished speaking, she went to the computer and turned on the screen, showing the finished design of the dress. A long sleeved white dress of crepe fabric with golden embroideries, a long bell skirt with chiffon waves in the end that made the dress looks as it floated. The design had been one of the best things she had done in her 15 years of age and the almost finished project looks just like what she thought it would look. Thank God Alya was so dedicated that managed to teach Adrien and Nino how to sew in just a week.

“Thanks, Tikki, I needed that” a bigger smile appeared in her face.

Before Tikki could say a thing, a thud sounded on her balcony, Chat Noir and Rena Rouge entered in their room and fell exhausted on the floor right before her transformation faded away.

“Are you two alright!?”

“Of course we are!” Alya stood up quickly to avoid worrying Marinette and grabbed Chat Noir by the neck of his suit “Quick! give her the butterfly”

He did as told and opened his bell to free a little black butterfly that started flying around in the room. Marinette transformed into Ladybug and told Alya to grab her Miraculous so they could deakumatize the butterfly. When the did was done and Ladybug went back to be Marinette, the white butterfly landed on the tip of her nose, causing her to giggle since it tickled her. Adrien, back into his normal attire, took the butterfly and let it fly away from the balcony. 

“Still, I wish I could be of more help”

“C’mon girl! You shouldn’t be worrying about that. If we ever need help we can always talk to master Fu!”

A loud gasp from Tikki that interrupted Alya made everyone put their eyes on her. Plag even dropped her cheese when Tikki took him by the tail and shook him without explaining.

“W-Wait sugarcube! Why are you so excited!?”

“There’s a way for Marinette to be Ladybug and do field work again!”

Both Alya and Adrien interchanged looks before looking at Marinette, looking at her Kwami wide-eyed and recovering a shine that they haven’t seen in months. There was a way for her to be Ladybug again.   
  


 

The next day, without even needing to ask him, Master Fu appeared at Marinette’s house and her mother took him to her room, surprising her while she was drawing the design for a blouse in her computer. Master Fu used the pretext of coming to do some massages to help her body recover some feeling and after Marinette approached him in her chair she took a deep breath before speaking.

“Can I really be a superhero once again?”

Master Fu smiled and took his phone to see that page from the spells book that he had been reading and re-reading for months, waiting for the moment she would ask for the way to use her power once again.

“There's a way, it's extremely hard and will exhaust you, but you can do it. You've overcome this” he laid a hand on her wheelchair  “You're the strongest Ladybug, no, the strongest girl I've seen”

“Me too!” said Tikki, appearing from Marinette’s bed.

“Is good that your Kwami believes that, without her, you won’t be able to make this” 

By showing her the picture in his phone depicting two Ladybugs, a normal one and the other that looked ethereal, almost like a spirit. After explaining to Marinette what she had to do,  he lighted up some candles and incense to help her relax, the only way they would manage to create an ethereal Ladybug would be through a deep spiritual connection between the Kwami and her bearer. Tikki was sitting in Marinette’s lap, feeling her warm and pacing her breathing with Marinette’s; even if she didn’t know what she had to do, she trusted in Tikki and in Master Fu so she closed her eyes. Black was everything she saw, that’s normally what you would see with your eyes closed, but after she left herself to follow the calmness of the whole situation a light appeared, white as the end of a tunnel and she opened her eyes. Seeing her own body sitting in the wheelchair was what it’s called an “out-of-body” experience, looking at herself,  then at her hands when she lifted them to her face and touched her cheeks to feel it. Marinette got scared until Master Fu appeared behind her and touched her back, startling her to the point she fell to the ground and when he opened her eyes she was sitting on her wheelchair again, breathing heavily.

“What.. was that?” 

“An astral projection. The connection between you and your Kwami was strong enough to make you feel things” said Master Fu, blowing the candles and the incense. “It’s hard to maintain but the more you practice the more you and Tikki will be able to keep the astral Marinette moving”   


“I felt that. I felt when you touched my back” said she, excited to the point that she felt she could jump out of her wheelchair.

Marinette only imagined the warm on her back, but she was sure she felt the touch for an instant. In that afternoon, hope was given back to her. The next days were full of meditation and practice, after a week she stopped being surprised at seeing her body dormant in the chair and at the end of the second week she could move around freely in her room. The ability she now had was kept as a secret to Adrien, Alya and Nino since she felt that nothing could distract her from being able to use this ability and be of help. With this, she would be able to help Chat Noir everytime he went out to take down Akumas and avoid him getting hurt and acting like everything was alright. She needed to be able to stand up for herself once again.

It was needed for a whole month for her to be able to use this new found power. One night she told her mom to put her to sleep early and when she turned the lights off for her, Tikki sat on her chest and started connecting with Marinette’s soul to be able to manifest the astral Marinette that ended up transforming into Ladybug. Right before going to the balcony and leaving her room, she turned around to see her own body, it was as she was sleeping comfortably in her bed; after fixing some strands of hair out off her face, she smiled at being able to feel herself, took out her yo-yo and went where the action was. 

Flying through the streets of Paris, the wind in her face and the adrenaline filling her body was the best sensation in the world, she missed being a heroine and just when she was laughing and screaming of happiness she found the akumatized civilian in the middle of the city and Chat Noir having some trouble to defeat the giant clown that tried to paint the Eiffel tower as a rainbow. Without thinking, she jumped into action and pushed Chat Noir out of the way. He was so surprised to see her that he couldn’t even say a joke, he only watched from the ground how she finished the Akuma by tying his feet with her yo-yo to make him fall to the ground and touch him with her hands that were embedded in a warm bright light. The clown turned into a little boy again who was surprised to see Ladybug after she disappeared for months. She replied she was taking some vacations before handing him to his parents. As she waved goodbye a hand pulled her from the shoulder and she was caught in a strong hug, a desperate and necessary hug that caused her to tear a little when she felt Chat Noir warm against her own body after so long.

“You made it just in time”

“I had to help this kitty”

With her index finger, she bopped his little bell causing him to laugh. Feeling Adrien’s touch was something she needed but her time was up, her body started being transparent and Adrien couldn’t touch her anymore, falling to the ground when she started being only an image once again. Ladybug laughed at him in the ground before kneeling

“Thanks for tonight, see you later”

Ladybug faded in the air in a cloud of red and with glitter and Adrien couldn’t wait to go and see Marinette once again.  At the first hour the next day, Adrien appeared in her home and ran to find her in the backyard, designing a blouse in her laptop.

“That was a nice surprise you gave me yesterday, bugaboo,” said Adrien while he sat on the chair next to hers and softly pinched her cheek.

Marinette only answered with a smile, in her head she accepted that she missed hearing him calling her that way. Her mother came with lemonade for the both of them and leave them to talk.

“You want some?” said Adrien, taking the glass with pink lemonade from the table.

“I'm good, maybe Tikki would like some”

When she mentioned her, she got up from her lap and took a sip of the sweet pink lemonade. There was some comfortable silence between them that was cut short because Marinette spoke.

“I think I'll go back to school” 

This took Adrien by surprise and his smile couldn't be hidden. 

“Those are great news! I would have missed you a lot…” a blush adorned his face but he stopped smiling when he saw Marinette's worried expression “it's something wrong?”

“Will everything be alright? My parents told me to choose and I know I can study with my laptop and the program you gave me. But it will be different”

“I won't lie to you, it will, but that doesn't mean we won't enjoy it. Everyone misses you and I know you miss them too”

Adrien stood up and planted a kiss on her forehead and the tingling feeling left in there lifted the weight from Marinette's chest. Fall came and in the first day of classes she was surprised with a welcome party in her classroom and how one on the tables was on the first floor to gave her and her chair easy access, also Adrien offered himself to be his new seat partner starting this new year and when Alya told her about this she couldn’t avoid being the same mess of giggles and babbling like a maniac. She couldn’t get used to it but she could totally live with it. The first day she got all of her friends talking to her and treating her like if nothing happened, everyone was just happy to see her smiling like she always used to do in the past. 

Being a heroine, even if it was for a short time during nights summed up to her design and classes once again. She won Paris's fashion week contest and Adrien and his father were in the ceremony to give her the award and see one of the models open the fashion show with her dress that looked like a white and golden cloud in the catwalk. Her parents, Alya and Nino were there with her at the first row and Adrien sat next to her when the Agreste fashion show finished and congratulated her once again.

Marinette was overflowing with feelings for all the happiness she had been experiencing all these days since she understood that life had never ended only because she was in a wheelchair and that she was really the strongest heroine in the whole world by only being able to keep moving forward.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
